‘reu nu pert em hru’ – The Book of Death
by Ascari
Summary: Methos pays an ancient dept to a 3000 year old Egyptian Immortal.


**_Standard disclaimer: the concept of Immortality and the Immortals belong to Rysher and are copyrighted by them. This story is for fun, not for profit._**

_This is a relatively short story; hope you like it! This story is written without a beta (she is working on my other fic at the moment), and English is not my native language. So please be kind! If you wonder why I write so much at the moment: I have holidays now :-)_

_Some notes:_

_The ritual I describe is only imagined and not real, although some elements of it are true: for example the use of incense and the axe during spiritual actions by priests (the clothes Methos whore are also original)._

_The Bock of Death (called 'reu nu pert em hru') really exists; it contains – as the Egyptian believed - magic spells for the last journey to another world._

_The words, I let say Methos and Baken-amun,_ _are really ancient Egyptian, although translated they would make no real sense because I added them together out of a book about Egyptian religion and rituals._

_And last but not least an explanation about the name Baken-amun: I created this name of a pharaoh's name Baken-re-nef and the God Amun. Although I don't think it was common for a servant to have a God's name – but hey, it's fiction._

_The queen Tausret (also known asTwosert or Sit-re Mery-amun) really existed; she was the last ruler of the 19th Dynasty and lays buried in the Valley of the Kings. She only ruled for two years as a pharaoh (I couldn't find out how she died, but maybe she really was murdered as she is in my story) The rest is pure fiction._

* * *

'**reu nu pert em hru' – The Book of Death****Headquarters, Paris**

Dr. Amy Zoll starred in total disbelief at the TV screen in front of her, showing two people together in a dark garden, which was only illuminated by moonlight. The first figure was a small woman with long black hair and relatively dark skin; the other was a man, whose skin in contrast almost gloomed alabaster as it reflected the moonlight. Both were speaking in Egyptian, in a very ancient dialect as Dr. Zoll was able to say so far.

But that was not the reason why she was shocked. No, it was the man's identity: this was Adam Pierson, former watcher and colleague of Zoll, who had gone AWHOL a few month ago; and now he appeared again out of nowhere, and was spotted talking to an Immortal – a very old and powerful Immortal.

The woman was no one else than Baken-amun, an over 3000 year old Egyptian woman. Zoll knew her story very well; Baken-amun had once been the favourite servant of queen Tausret, who had ruled Egypt as a female pharaoh once. As far as the watchers knew, Baken-amun had once tried to save her queen against an assassin-attack; although willing to sacrifice her own life for her queen's, she had failed. It was a very tragic story; Zoll guessed that Baken-amun had been in deep love with her queen. A strong evidence for this theory was also the fact that Baken-amun never have had any relationship with anther person – and 3000 years were a very, very long time, even for an Immortal.

She shook her head, and once again concentrated on the screen where she watched the two talking with each other. The woman had a pleading and sad expression on her face while Pierson's face showed a mix of anger and disagreement.

When the woman said something, Pierson only shock his head, and then turned, obviously trying to leave. "You owe me," the woman then suddenly whispered in English.

Zoll could see Pierson froze at these words and then close his eyes. Because he turned his head a little bit to the side, the moonlight then illuminated parts of his face: the expression on it was that of pure sadness. As he reopened his eyes...

Zoll blinked in confusion... these were no longer Adam Pierson's eyes, she found herself now starring into. No, these were the eyes of a very, very old creature, she thought as she felt herself overwhelmed by age. This man was not Adam Pierson, not the man she knew and had worked with, this was someone different, a stranger.

The moment the moonlight illuminated his complete features, he looked totally alien; there was nothing human left at him now. Starring in fascination at the man on the screen, she could almost painfully feel the aura that surrounded him now, an aura of eternity. His face was absolutely timeless as he answered, "you are right, I owe you...but I owe you a life not a death."

The woman stepped closer and then took his hands into hers. "Please accept it,"she then whispered with a very gentle voice, which now sounded very old, "I lived more than 3000 years. My beloved queen is long gone, and so are my people, my culture... I watched cities being built and destroyed, saw dynasties rise and fall, centuries come and pass, and I don't know who I am anymore, and to whom I belong... Time has changed, but I'm no longer able and willing to change with it – I'm tired, tired of killing, tired to see everything die around me, tired of the changes, and tired of life... It's time for me to join my queen."

"But," Pierson tried to interrupt.

"No, my eyes have seen enough – I do not want to see anymore of it."

"But there's so much more...you could feel again, love again."

"No," she shook her head sadly as she began to caress his face with her right hand, "maybe you, but not I. I'm no longer interested in it. I have given up love with the dead of my queen; I have promised her eternal loyalty and love... No, I'm empty now; this world has nothing left for me... I don't belong here any longer... it's time to move on." She stepped back and looked Pierson directly into his eyes. "I have decided... you will not be able to persuade me otherwise... but I can't do it alone, you are the only one left who knows the magical rituals... please, you owe me that."

Pierson closed his eyes again, and Zoll watched in fascination the several feelings, which flickered over his face: first sadness, then anger, after that acceptation, and finally nothing. His face had become an emotionless mask, and his eyes reflected the moonlight in an almost alien fire as he finally spoke with an cold voice that lacked any feeling, "I owe you, Baken-amun, and I will pay my debt... when?"

"In two days," the woman replied. Without exchanging another word, they parted.

Dr.Zoll blinked in surprise as the video suddenly stopped. She starred with wide eyes at the other three persons in the room: it was an older grey-haired archaeologist, Roland Sommer, and two younger watchers. One of them - she knew - was the watcher of Baken-amun. She shook her head in disbelief as she asked, "what does that mean? What has Pierson to do with this Immortal woman... I mean he is a watcher, AWOL, but a watcher.... Consorting with an Immortal, what to hell has he thought?... And what does this mean 'he owes her'?"

Kenny Randall, Baken-amun's watcher cleared his throat; then he produced another tape out of his coat. "I'm no longer sure if he is not Immortal, too..."

"What?" Dr. Zoll almost croaked in denial, "you are crazy... Adam? I have worked with him for several years now; if this guy is Immortal, I eat my socks... No, this is about something else, the poor boy, I think he is overwhelmed by her age. It almost looked to me as she had pulled some kind of spell on him... We should stop him before it's too late, and talk some sense into him."

"I'm afraid," Randall continued, "that it's too late already." He took the other videotape and inserted into the recorder. "Maybe it's better you see it with your own eyes." He stepped back, and then pointed at the third watcher, a blonde man of about 35 years, who had been silent during the whole time. "This is Piet Farner, I asked him to observe Pierson as I followed Baken-amun back to Egypt... and guess where Pierson headed?"

"Egypt," Dr. Zoll whispered.

"Yes, exactly. To the temple of Hatschepsut in Deir el-Bahari." He then pressed the start-button, and Dr. Zoll could see the temple-grounds, coloured by the sunset in an almost alien red light. Behind the temple rose the mountains in the sky, and Zoll found herself starring at the stairway, which leaded to the entry of the temple.

There knelt a woman, one wrist on her chest, the other extended in front of her, palm open. The woman was clothed in a white dress, and had some jewels around her neck; her arms were decorated with golden bracelets, which had turquoise-scarabs on it. As the camera fixed a little closer at her, Zoll could see that her face was painted the ancient way: the woman was Baken-amun. Dr. Zoll could hear her whisper ancient words, "... anch was ma'at hetep, isfet ma'at". Then, the woman suddenly raised her head, and starred at the sky above. She bowed her head, then got up and walked to the temple.

Zoll looked up in surprise as the video suddenly stopped.

"There's another tape," she then heard Piet Farner say, and watched the man then exchange the tapes. "As Randall told already, I followed Pierson," he explained. "And what shall I say, our trip was very interesting. Although Pierson was very cautious, I was able to follow him to another ancient Immortal before he headed to Egypt." He looked directly at Zoll. "You know him, Dr. Zoll, it was Marcus Constantine."

Dr. Zoll inhaled deeply, and starred at the watcher in pure disbelief.

"I wasn't able to film their meeting, but I found out that Constantine handed over three ancient objects to Pierson: an alabaster goblet decorated with ancient hieroglyphs, an axe that has an Anubis-shaped hilt, and the 'reu nu pert em hru'."

"The Book of Death," the archaeologist whispered with an in exciting shaking voice behind Zoll. "And the axe - the way you described it – it reminded me of the 'Se-net-Anubis', a sacrificed ritual-object, which was used by Egyptian priests during holy rituals.

Farner nodded, and then continued," after he had visited Constantine, Pierson headed to Egypt. I was able to follow him to the temple and hide in there... Maybe it's better to see the rest of it now." He nodded to Randall, who pressed the start-button again.

A few moments later, Dr.Zoll found herself starring at the temple-room, which was illuminated by torches. At the end stood a black Anubis-statue in front of which two people were kneeling. One was Baken-amun, the other Dr.Zoll could identified as Pierson; he was wearing a white dress and had a sash around his shoulder - the typical sign of a priest of Anubis. On his head was a golden headband, which had an Anubis-figure with ruby-eyes on it.

Around the hall, Dr. Zoll could also see bowls that very likely contained incense, and vases with Lotus-flavours. The whole scenario looked as if time had been put back to a century bygone long ago.

She then watched Pierson take the goblet and the axe. With a cold voice, which lacked any feeling, he began to intone, "Hetep di nysut, was anch toth pert em." His face was a mask that showed nothing as his eyes glowed red in the light of the torches and the red sunset. Baken-amun knelt in front of him, her head bowed, remaining absolutely silence and unmoving.

After some time, Pierson finally took Baken-amun' hand and made a small cut with the axe in it; she didn't flinch. Then, he took the goblet and collected the blood with it, not stopping to chant ancient verses out of the "Book of Death". After he had done so, he raised the goblet to his lips, and drank while his eyes never left Baken-amun.

Dr. Zoll watched him in morbid fascination take the axe again, and slice his own palms open. He also collected his blood in the goblet, and then began to paint hieroglyphs with it on Baken-amun's face. Dr. Zoll recognized them as the Egyptian-signs of Death, Immortality, and After-Life.

Putting the goblet back, he hesitated for a moment, and starred at Baken-amun; in his eyes, Dr. Zoll meant to sea sadness now. Leaning forward, he then kissed Baken-amun on her lips – Dr. Zoll could have sworn that this was not a part of the original ritual. Both stared then several minutes into each other's eyes without exchanging one single word or continuing in the ritual.

Inhaling very deeply, Dr. Zoll found herself now starring at two very ancient creatures, no longer at the same level as plain humans - eternal instead, almost divine. She felt herself overwhelmed by their ancient auras, knowing that she was not the only one feeling that way as she heard Sommer moan behind her. "This is incredible," she heard him whisper aghast.

Finally, Pierson picked up the axe again, and then got up. As the camera fixed on his face, Dr. Zoll could see a single glittering tear roll down his check as he raised the axe above his head, and then beheaded the kneeling woman in front of him with one powerful stroke.

Zoll screamed in fear as she waited for the quickening to hit – a quickening on holy ground, she realized horrified. But there was none.

Pierson remained in front of the headless body, his eyes closed and his head down. He stood there for about 30 minutes in total silence. Then, he finally knelt down, picked Baken-amun 's reminds, and carried her body to the 'Valley of the Kings. There, he searched near the tomb of queen Tausret for a hidden entry, and entered then with the dead woman.

Here the video stopped again, and Farner explained quietly, "He left 30 minutes later. Apparently, this is the entry to an unknown chamber to queen Tausret 's tomb. We opened it after Pierson had left, and took a look."

The video continued, and Dr. Zoll saw a small chamber, which was decorated with beautiful pictures that showed queen Tausret together with a woman. Zoll saw hieroglyphs at the wall that read 'Baken-amun mery-Tausret ' - translated that meant 'Baken-amun, Beloved of Tausret'. There were also several precious objects standing in the room, and Dr.Zoll's look felt at the stone-sarcophagus, which was standing in the centre of the room. It was decorated with beautiful pictures, also showing Baken-amun with her beloved queen.

Then, the camera was put down, and Zoll heard loud noises. Farner explained, "I had to remove the lid."

A few moments later, the screen showed once again the now opened sarcophagus. Lying in there, Zoll could see a beautiful woman: Baken-amun. Pierson had positioned her in a way, which didn't show that head and body were separated. The body was also decorated with many beautiful jewels, which glittered in the light, and a golden scarab was placed on her brow – she looked absolutely beautifully and in peace.

When this picture froze at the screen, the watcher said, "we closed the sarcophagus and hit the entry under the sand again. "

"She lays now next to her beloved queen," Zoll heard Sommer whisper with a somehow strange-sounding voice. "Maybe we should leave her there. At last she is near her beloved again; and this for eternity if nobody disturbs her – it was her last wish, it seems."

"Yes," Zoll confirmed deeply buried in thoughts, "maybe you are right, we should respect that... And we have enough other material to research. I mean, we have a quickening on holy ground and don't forget Pierson – he will have lots of thinks to explain if I ever will get hold of him."

**Egypt, at the same time**

At the other side of the word, a lonely figure was sitting at the foot of thousands-of-years-old pyramids, and stared at the night-sky where the stars were spreading their eternal light. Remembering the ancient past, he remained sitting there for several hours. Finally, he sadly whispered, "farewell, Baken-amun, may you be united with your beloved queen again." He took a small golden Ankh (the Egyptian symbol of Immortality), and placed it in the sand. "Not everybody is made for eternity." With these last words, he turned and walked away.


End file.
